China's Xinjiang crackdown 'reaps' millions of dollars in assets for state

Chinese authorities have seized and sold tens of millions of dollars in assets owned by jailed Uyghur business owners at auction amid government campaign in country's Xinjiang region, said a report.

Chinese authorities have seized and sold tens of millions of dollars in assets owned by jailed Uyghur business owners at auction amid a broad government campaign in the country's Xinjiang region, said a report.

According to The Wall Street Journal report, since 2019, Xinjiang courts have put at least 150 assets--ranging from home appliances to real estate and company shares--belonging to at least 21 people and valued at a total of 84.8 million dollars up for auction on e-commerce sites.

"The listings were compiled by the Uyghur Human Rights Project, an advocacy group partially funded by the US government," the media outlet said citing documents and corporate records.

According to The Wall Street Journal report, the Uyghur group said it recorded seizures that were clearly linked to court cases involving charges related to terrorism and extremism. It also included cases of people identified by Chinese state media as extremists, or whose families reported they had been accused of such activities.

Western scholars and rights groups said Chinese authorities level these types of charges as a pretext to implement policies targeting minorities in Xinjiang more broadly.

As per the Chinese government, it is fighting terrorism and separatism. While Uyghur activists say Beijing is intent on destroying Uyghurs' culture and ethnic identity.

In the past years, China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and subjecting them to abuse including forced labour.

Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) brutal crackdown on the ethnic community.